Hi there!

So, I'm new to the forum, and fairly new to XFCE. I have fiddled with it off and on in the past, but never stuck with it, always settling on Gnome. But, I have this new Acer 11.6" netboot with (cough) Win7 on it and I was looking for a Linux distro to install on it. Anyway, I found Linuxmint LMDE, a Debian based distro, downloaded the XFCE version, and voila, here I am. I like the new 4.8.0 XFCE desktop, so I am planning on trying to stay with it.

Re: Hi there!

Thanks, G. I have decided to stick with an XFCE based desktop, whether it be LMDE or some other distribution. I'm still looking around at other distros, not sure if i'm going to stick with LMDE just yet. The two basic requirements I have are: 1) Wifi must work right out of the box, and 2) It must support my Acer's 1366x768 resolution right out of the box. My heart's desire would be a Debian based distro that will meet these requirements. LMDE does that, but it's so bloated and dependent on LM's repositories for updates. I'd like something a little less weight, and a little more Debian-like. Any suggestions?

Re: Hi there!

Sorry for slow GM. Life Happened to me this weekend.Yes, I have a suggestion...PCLinuxOS Phoenix. They have Two Versions...A Full and a Mini. The Full, as expected, has a collection of preselected applications. The Mini has only few Apps so you can select your own. PCLinuxOS is the ONLY Distro that works completely on my LapTop right out of the box, wireless and evathang. They release about every 6 months, but there's no schedule. They only release when they can honestly declare it Stable. Bill Reynolds, aka TexStar, aka Tex, is it's creator and Benevolent Dictator for Life. Dude can write code in his sleep and his Quality Control is 2nd to none. They've got a very active, friendly, and helpful community over there and the whole outfit is definitely worth a test drive. FULL DISCLOSURE: I only use PCLOS distros as LiveCDs. For hdd Installs I use Debian Stable. PCLOS doesn't have all the Apps I want, and I prefer a slower update cycle. But their LiveCDs can't be beat. Either Live or Installed, their distros are light and fast. They're .rpm based, but they are Debian-Like in that they use Synaptic Exclusively for Package Management. All of their Packages are in one or two repos, making source selection and updates easy. I think you'll also find their PCLinuxOS Control Center extremely helpful and easy for system setup, including video resolution. PCLOS is the Distro that I point Noobs to until I can help them setup Debian. I heartily endorse #10 at DistroWatch. I think it's the best chance for the OOTB Experience you seek.

G

PS. They are a Semi-Rolling Release, only requiring re-installs about every 3 years. Recently, they've made moves to lengthen that. Only time will tell. Good Luck in your Search. Hope this helps.

Re: Hi there!

Thanks for your suggestion, G. Yes, in the interim I did try PCLOS Phoenix 2012-02 XFCE. I like it, but it is a 32bit distro. On my netbook, the XFCE desktop was a bit slow. It was driving me nuts. I would click on a window menu item, and then have to wait three, four, or five seconds for the menu to drop down. Granted, a few seconds is not a long period of time, but nowadays when we click on a menu, we expect it to drop down almost immediately. I don't have that issue with LMDE. But, to give PCLOS some credit, it has been the ONLY distro that enabled the wireless LED on this netbook! This is the little red LED on the left, front edge of this Acer AO722 11.6" netbook. I think they do have a 64bit version in testing. I haven't checked whether or not they have it in a 64 bit version.

In the meantime, I had a problem with XFCE on LMDE. So, I opened a terminal and deleted the .config, .local, and .cache folders. After doing that, I now have a pure XFCE desktop on LMDE! I love it now! My point is, I don't have the menu click delay issue on this distro.

Anyway, I am somewhat satisfied with LMDE-XFCE, but not totally, I'm still searching. Honestly, I don't think I'll be happy until I get Debian stable working.

Re: Hi there!

The drop-down menu slowness may be due to some app using an extra big icon and then the menu takes some time to load.If one badly configured desktop file* in the menu has that then the whole menu will suffer.* for example calling a custom icon that's big instead of using a generic icon name from the icon theme.

Re: Hi there!

It would happen with ANY menu, not just the main menu. Even if I opened up a terminal window, clicking on the "File" menu button was slow. But strangely, it seemed to be a little quicker after the initial click and wait period. Don't know what the problem was, but it did get annoying. I just assumed it was due to it being a 32 bit OS on a 64 bit machine. I don't have that issue with LMDE 64 bit. And, I also have CHAKRA 64 bit installed, not a problem with slowness with it. But, it is a KDE desktop OS. I dunno, but I do like PCLOS and I will try it again when they have a 64 bit release.

Re: Hi there!

I've always been surprised that PCLOS isn't higher on DistroWatch. I think it's because they don't have a 64-Bit Version. However their Gnome2 Version, called MMXII, over at linuxgator.com does...sort of. It has a dual kernel. It will boot into either a 32-bit or 64-bit mode, auto-selected by the machine it's on. I really like that.

Re: Hi there!

Aha! I reinstalled PCLOS Phoenix edition, and this time I do not experience the menu delay! I think I may have accidentally enabled the wrong video driver the last time, while I was trying to get the 1366x768 resolution set up. Anyway, now it's performing wonderfully. Now, I am a happy camper with Windows7, Linuxmint LMDE, Chakra, and PCLinuxOS Phoenix all installed on this little netbook! Oh, the fun!

Re: Hi there!

Glad you found the answer. Now it seems to me that it's time for you go blog some netbook distro reviews. Did you use the full or mini edition of Phoenix? I think I liked the full better. It's been awhile.

Re: Hi there!

gxagar wrote:

I've always been surprised that PCLOS isn't higher on DistroWatch. I think it's because they don't have a 64-Bit Version. However their Gnome2 Version, called MMXII, over at linuxgator.com does...sort of. It has a dual kernel. It will boot into either a 32-bit or 64-bit mode, auto-selected by the machine it's on. I really like that.